Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Summorum Pontificum: Urgent now more than ever

Posted on 6 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have long maintained that one of the most important achievements, indeed, gifts from the pontificate of Benedict XVI was the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, which I like to call the “Emancipation Proclamation”. It certainly freed the priest and the People of God to engage in an authentic revitalization of the Church’s all-important sacred liturgical worship.

We are our rites.

When are rites were brutally changed in the 60’s and an artificially created form was imposed with little explanation … or, in retrospect… demand… a great wound was inflicted on our collective Catholic identity.

Benedict, understood this wound. He understood the dangers of an encroaching Dictatorship of Relativism within the Church and without. Summorum Pontificum serves much like the Marshall Plan served Europe after the devastation of the war: it provided a bulwark against atheistic, materialistic Communism and it rebuilt economies and structures to provide for trade and stability etc.

I saw at the blog of the Benedictine dom Mark Kirkby, of Silverstream Priory, his points about the benefits of Summorum Pontificum over the last ten years. HERE The Priory, by the way, has produced beautiful altar cards for Holy Mass, which I am using on my own altar. HERE They also produced a wonderful Way of the Cross especially for priests. I have used that myself HERE In short, dom Kirby and the guys have got game. They also have needs… HERE.

Back to the ten points positive fruits of Summorum Pontificum identified by dom Mark a while back. Here they are in bullet points. Peter Kwasnieski recently posted about them at NLM. Go read the whole thing HERE.

1. A clearer manifestation of the sacred liturgy as the work of Christ the Eternal High Priest and Mediator.

2. The opening, for many souls, of a secure bridge between celebration and contemplation.

3. A serene and lucid transmission of the doctrine of the faith.

4. A renewed appreciation for the link between worship and culture.

5. The affirmation of the primacy of latria in the life of the Church, following the principle of Saint Benedict that “nothing is to be preferred to the work of God” (Rule, Ch. XLIII).

6. Encouragement given to the recovery and renewal of Benedictine monastic life in the heart of the Church.

7. Joy and beauty brought to Catholic family life.

8. A renewal of true priestly piety.

9. The birth of new expressions of consecrated life that find their source and summit in the traditional liturgy, Holy Mass and Divine Office.

10. An infusion of hope and, for young people, an experience of a beauty that renders holiness of life enchanting and attractive.

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged Fr. Kirby, Silverstream Priory, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM
6 Comments

ACTION ITEM! Birettas for Seminarians Project – HELP!

Posted on 5 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

“¡Hagan lío!”, right?

I had a note last month from John Hastreiter at Leaflet Missal:

About 30 guys on the waiting list.

It’s enough to make you choke up. THIRTY men waiting… waiting… waiting….

YOU, dear readers, have supplied over 100 birettas to seminarians. Kudos. Some thank you notes from seminarians with spiffy new birettas HERE and HERE.

Recently in Rome for the great Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage, I met two seminarians who are recipients of your birettas!

What is this project and how does this work?

RESOLVED: We want to get as many clerics to use birettas (and all that goes with them – fidelity to doctrine, reverent ars celebrandi, good life choices, solid priestly identity, etc.) as possible.

HENCE,…

Seminarians should 1) discern their hat size and then 2) contact the biretta supplier and get their names on a NEED list.
YOU, dear readers, contact the biretta supplier and PAY FOR the birettas which are then distributed.

You remain anonymous to each other.

Seminarians and potential donors…

Contact John in church goods at Leaflet Missal in St. Paul – 651-209-1951 Ext-331.

DO NOT WRITE TO ME TO ASK FOR A BIRETTA! (If a seminarian doesn’t get that straight then… how are your grades?!?)

CONTACT JOHN AT LEAFLET.

If John is away, leave a voicemail with your phone number and he will call you back ASAP.

There is also a SATURNO FOR CLERICS Project. Ask John about that, too!

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, ACTION ITEM!, Seminarians and Seminaries | Tagged birettas
2 Comments

Edward Pentin’s talk at the Catholic Identity Conference 2017

Posted on 4 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Edward Pentin – at present the best English language Vaticanista in Rome – gave a talk at a conference. There is a video of his talk.

You might give it a shot.

Pentin, a sharp and reasonable guy, touches on a lot of sore points.

We have to stop blowing happy gas all around, as if everything in the Church was great. It’s not great. Some things are great, but a lot of really important thing aren’t good at all.

Before we can get to being great together, we need to figure out what has to be corrected.

Hence…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism | Tagged Edward Pentin
10 Comments

Fishwrap & Winters (aka Comrade Coyote) “struggles” Fr. Weinandy, Card. DiNardo

Posted on 3 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

同志 Coyote, Wile E., (aka Michael Sean Winters… indelibly dubbed by Robbie George as the Wile E. Coyote of the catholic Left) and the National Schismatic Reporter, has fulfilled his duty as a cadre of the New catholic Red Guards today, by piling on with others in a “struggle” against Fr. Thomas Weinandy.

Here is a taste:

Hypocrisy marks DiNardo‘s inadequate response to Weinandy [Translation: Card. DiNaro is a hypocrite because he does hurt Weinandy as much as Comrade Coyote would.]

I am not sure which is worse, the fact that Capuchin Fr. Tom Weinandy, a former director of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, could pen such a ridiculously presumptuous letter to the pope, or that the current leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops could respond in such a thoroughly inadequate way. [See? He’s attacking DiNardo. He has already recently criticized the bishops – because he can criticize in his role as New catholic Red Guards cadre – because he doesn’t like the USCCB fall meeting agenda… as if they asked him.]

Mgsr. John Strynkowski, Weinandy’s predecessor at the doctrinal committee, has already published a striking response to Weinandy’s letter, with a point-by-point rebuttal. I need not repeat Strynkowski’s arguments and I most definitely wish to associate myself with them. [Strynkowski accompanied Chicago’s Archbishop Cupich as a theologian to the Synod on the Family.]

Still, I have some other concerns. Weinandy did not merely object to this or that thing Pope Francis has said or done; the whole tone of his letter, his choice of words, showed a lack of respect and humility that was appalling. [And yet here we are reading Comrade Coyote remark that Card. DiNardo is a hypocrite and the USCCB is inadequate. But! The “tone” of Weinandy’s letter was lacking in respect. Go read the letter and see for yourselves.]

[…]

Weinandy and his ilk fret about all those faithful Catholics who are scandalized by Francis. Bosh. Francis is probably the most popular pope in history, [Jesus said it’s all about “popularity”] maybe not at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, [the cadre whistles and points at yet another place for the Left to attack] but in most areas where loyal Catholics [“loyal”… no, you don’t want to go against Mao Thought… believe me!] warm to the pope’s refreshing pleas for more mercy and less judgment. [Just like the mercy and lack of judgment Comrade Coyote is now showing to Fr. Weinandy.] Most conservative Catholics love this pope. There are opponents, to be sure, and they are well-funded and very noisy, but they are a sliver of the population. [See Fr. Hunwicke’s reaction to this. Priceless!]

[…]

Not once does DiNardo distinguish between Weinandy’s malicious ranting and the Holy Father’s magisterial teaching. [He’s already accused DiNardo of being a hypocrite. Now comes the implication if not being “loyal” enough.] Indeed, the word magisterium does not appear even once in the statement. [COMRADE COYOTE ladies and gents! From that perennial defender of the MAGISTERIUM the National Schismatic Reporter.] A Jewish friend, upon reading DiNardo’s statement, observed, “I thought your church was hierarchical.” [Because the Fishwrap, which used to want popular election of bishops when JP2 and B16 were Popes, is not all about being “hierarchical”. ]

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for civility and dialogue. [This from Mr. Venom himself! HERE. Be sure to go to that link!]

[…]

It almost writes itself as self-parody.

Some time ago I was given a poster from the Cultural Revolution in 1966, when it was really getting underway. Given the times we are now living in, I just had it framed and I’ve put it on a wall, to remind me of the violence that Catholics are up against from the liberal Left.

In the Cultural Revolution, when someone was identified for disloyalty to Mao Thought, cadres would point them out and their troops of zealots would then “struggle” against them. A “struggle session” involved public humiliation and torture to humiliate, persecute, or execute political rivals and, thus, to shape public opinion.

That’s what the catholic Left is now doing at Amerika, Fishwrap, on Twitter, etc.

They – the New catholic Red Guards are engaging in cyber “struggle sessions”.

In Comrade Coyote’s piece, there is even a hint that Card. DiNardo and the US Bishops aren’t “loyal” enough to the New Thought.

Sometime read through the Sixteen Points which were the 1966 guidelines of the Cultural Revolution. A taste:

Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, and customs, and habits [the “Four Olds” that must be “smashed”, literally] of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds, and endeavor to stage a comeback. The proletariat must do just the opposite: it must meet head?on every challenge of the bourgeoisie in the ideological field and use the new ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the whole of society. At present our objective is to struggle against and crush those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, [the magisterium of John Paul II, etc.] to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic “authorities” [like Fr. Weinandy] and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and transform education, literature, and art and all other parts of the superstructure that do not correspond to the socialist economic base, [INVADE Franciscan U!] so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system. The masses of the workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres form the main force in this Great Cultural Revolution. Large numbers of revolutionary young people, previously unknown, have become courageous and daring pathbreakers. …

Sounds like Comrade Coyote.

How about…

The masses of the workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres form the main force in this Great Cultural Revolution. Large numbers of revolutionary young people, previously unknown, have become courageous and daring pathbreakers. They are vigorous in action and intelligent. Through the media of big character posters [tweets… some get 280 characters, btw] and great debates, they argue things out, expose and criticize thoroughly, and launch resolute attacks on the open and hidden representatives of the bourgeoisie. … Since the Cultural Revolution is a revolution, it inevitably meets with resistance. This resistance comes chiefly from those in authority who have wormed their way into the party and are taking the capitalist road. It also comes from the old force of habit in society. [again, the Four Olds] At present, this resistance is still fairly strong and stubborn. However, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is, after all, an irresistible general trend. There is abundant evidence that such resistance will crumble fast once the masses become fully aroused. …

If you want to read more about that desperate time try Mao’s Last Revolution – US HERE – UK HERE.

Posted in Liberals, New catholic Red Guards, Pò sì jiù, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Fr. Thomas Weinandy, New catholic Red Guards, Wile E. Coyote
17 Comments

Pope Francis: “Some will awake for eternal life, others for everlasting shame”

Posted on 3 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The liturgy wars are probably going to flare up again. Not long ago the Pope changed the way that liturgical translations are approved and then, in an informal manner, suggested a few interpretive principles, none of which he has codified. I suspect that behind the flaring of the translation controversy the pressure of the extremely wealthy and liberal German bishops conference.

In any event, one of the hotly debated points of the last round of the Liturgical Translation War was how to render Latin pro multis in the form of consecration of the Precious Blood. The answer is obvious, unless you are like German bishops. The only possible rendering of pro multis – in the context of Mass – is “for many”. While Christ intended His Sacrifice for all, not all would accept salvation from that Sacrifice. Christ poured out His Blood for all, but only “the many” would actually be saved.

Holy Church has explicitly taught, for example in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, that we cannot say pro omnibus or pro universis.

But I digress.

The translation of sacramental forms is reserved to the Holy Father. Benedict determined that pro multis must be translated as “for many” and not “for all”.

Libs who demand blind kowtows to everything Pope Francis says, have said little about the open defiance of their fellows in regard to Pope Benedict’s decision on this.

Dissent is okay when it is against Benedict. Doubly so when it concerns the magisterial teachings of John Paul II.

I read in Pope Francis’ 3 November sermon from the annual Mass for the cardinals and bishops who died during the last year, that Francis explicitly favored Benedict‘s approach. There is also a piece at Crux.

The Pope said

The first reading expresses a powerful hope in the resurrection of the just: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan 12:2). Those who sleep in the dust of the earth are obviously the dead. Yet awakening from death is not in itself a return to life: some will awake for eternal life, others for everlasting shame. Death makes definitive the “crossroads” which even now, in this world, stands before us: the way of life, with God, or the way of death, far from him. The “many” who will rise for eternal life are to be understood as the “many” for whom the blood of Christ was shed. They are the multitude that, thanks to the goodness and mercy of God, can experience the life that does not pass away, the complete victory over death brought by the resurrection.

“Scare quotes” or not, it is clear what the Pope meant: not all are saved. Many are saved, and others are not. As he said: “some will awake for eternal life, others for everlasting shame”. “Some” can be “many”, but it cannot be “all”.

The video of the Mass… the sermon begins at just after 23:00 into the video. Italian text HERE… English text HERE.

Posted in Four Last Things, Francis, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, PRO MULTIS, WDTPRS | Tagged liturgical translation, PRO MULTIS
15 Comments

ASK FATHER: How to “pray for the Pope’s intentions” if I don’t like them or him?

Posted on 3 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

With the pope not being what I would call a friend to the traditional mass, my wife has asked how do we pray for his intentions? Can we as lay people be critical of the pope? Where is the line to be drawn?

First, let’s clarify something. That phrase, “pray for [the Pope’s] intentions” does not mean praying for the Pope. It means praying for the intentions that the Pope designates.

In modern times Popes designate a couple of intentions each month. You don’t have to know what they are explicitly in order to pray for them. Simply make the intention to pray for whatever it is that he designated. For some years now Popes have designated a “General” and a “Mission” intention. In the past, it was a little more complicated, as I shall explain down the line.

There are a couple more issues here.

It is remarkable how often these days I get questions about praying for the Pope’s intentions. I’ve answered questions about this before. What seems to be at the core of the question is an implicit, “We don’t like the Pope or the intentions he designates, so we don’t want to pray for the intention he designates. How do we get around this?”

May I remind the readership that, in this age when the concept of “love” is being treacherously and demonically distorted – not just banalized now, but distorted (as sexually active and activist homosexuals do), we who hold to our Catholic Faith know that “love” isn’t a matter of “liking”.

Love is an act of will.

This is something that spouses know all too well: over time “feelings” can change, but when we choose to love we overcome all obstacles if that choice is for the kind of love that Christ exemplified on the Cross: charity.

You are “traditional”, right? Traditional Catholics love their Popes.

All Catholics love their Popes. They want to like them, too, but they do love them. That means desiring for them what is truly for their good. In the case of this Pope, as for every Pope, that must also include desiring what is truly good also for the Church, since the Pope is the Church’s visible reference point of unity.

I think that traditionalists should distinguish themselves in charity, and not be like … others, who seek their own agendas.

If you don’t “like” the Holy Father, or what he does, you can, and should, make an act of will to love him, which means desiring for him what is truly good for him. Furthermore, it means respecting his authority in those things over which he has authority. In the matter of the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints and the indulgences that Holy Church concedes, the Holy Father has the authority.

So, Catholics recognize the Pope’s authority in those things that pertain to his office, and we pray that God give them, and the Church, that which is truly good according to His will.

The Church, through the Holy Father, assigns as part of most indulgenced works also praying for the intentions that the Holy Father designates. And that’s that.

A tangential issue might be helpful. What happens if there is no Holy Father, as in the case between pontificates, sede vacante? How do we pray for his intentions when “he” is no more? First, Popes generally issue their intentions for a whole year way ahead of time. There is going to be already published some intention that the last Pope had designated.

To deepen out knowledge of the Pope’s intentions, there are also the traditional intentions that were perennially designated.

Click

Because we are Unreconstructed Ossified Manualists, and we love our old dependable compendia of theology with its sober and thorough analyses, we can turn to the manual by Prümmer.

Prümmer says that the intentions of the Holy Father for which we are to pray have a tradition of five basic categories which were fixed:

1. Exaltatio S. Matris Ecclesiae (Triumph/elevation/stablity/growth of Holy Mother Church)
2. Extirpatio haeresum (Extirpation/rooting out of heresies),
3. Propagatio fidei (Propagation/expansion/spreading of the Faith)
4. Conversio peccatorum (Conversion of sinners),
5. Pax inter principes christianos (Peace between christian rulers).

These five categories were also listed in the older, 1917 Code of Canon Law, which is now superseded by the 1983 Code.

However, they remain good intentions all.

If you don’t happen to know what Pope Francis’ intentions are for November 2017 – or even if you do – you can always join these intentions to your prayers for “whatever it was that the Pope designated”, always in accord with God’s will.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged Holy Father's intentions, indulgences
23 Comments

PHOTOS – 2 Nov – All Souls Day – Pontifical Requiem @MadisonDiocese

Posted on 2 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This evening we had a lovely Pontifical Requiem at the Throne in the traditional form of the Roman Rite, celebrated for the intention of deceased priests and bishops of the diocese.

Here are some shots:

Introibo ad altare Dei…

Lots of this goes on in a Pontifical Mass. Miters are important symbols. In a Requiem, the bishop uses the plain white miter, trimmed with a little red.

The subdeacon sings the Epistle.

Heading to the altar. The bishop wanted to use his own chasuble tonight.

Offertory.

The sermon follows Mass in the Requiem. The bishop’s voice was giving out, so he asked the undersigned to say a few things.

Following the sermon comes the Absolution.

Getting ready for the recessional. No, that isn’t “Hey, gimme that back!”

The choir was good. People prayed for the dead. We asked God’s mercy on deceased priests and bishops.

All Souls Day 2017.

Pray for the Dead.

Posted in Four Last Things, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 |
2 Comments

Protest becomes self-parody: the jihad against @BishopMorlino of @MadisonDiocese

Posted on 2 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’ve been watching tweets against Bp. Morlino as part of the ongoing jihad against him here in Madison.

These poor people.

Ultra-liberal Madison, by the way, was once described by a former governor of Wisconsin as “30 square miles surrounded by reality”, although it has grown to some 77 by now and the phrase has undergone revision.

Someone here who truly detests the Bishop – no one hates like a committed liberal, with all their self-righteous and humorless moral superiority – started an online petition to have him removed.

Its hostility is ironically relieved by its over-the-top rhetoric which unintentionally involves self-parody.

CLICK

I admit that the first time I read the petition, I almost laughed aloud.

As I reread it, it became even more amusing, a surprise considering how far off the mark it is.

Nothing, especially the truth, facts, will deter these folks from their objective: to hurt someone.

They aim at the bishop, but they are really hurting each other.

I weighed whether or not to give this flicker any oxygen. It’ll die soon under the burden of its own eccentricity, especially because the people who made and signed it have not the slightest clue as to what they are talking about.

However, it is also exemplary in how cliché it is. That’s why it deserves some attention now. It can teach us how the Left thinks and works. Reading it is rather like… an autopsy. It’s not pleasant, but it’s instructive. And it’s sorta funny, in a black, morbid way.

Here is the text – try reading it aloud! – with my emphases and comments:

We are asking that His Holiness Pope Francis PP remove Robert C. Morlino from his role as Bishop of the Madison Diocese.
Bishop Morlino exerts a corrosive and corrupt [!] influence over the Diocese through his transparent attempts to influence the voting habits of its members. [If they are “transparent”, then how have they been seen? No.. no.. I’m reading with reason. Make popcorn and then read on!] His threats to priests amount to a violation of the Constitutional separation of church and state. [LOL!] Furthermore, he is an open and practicing bigot whose attitudes and opinions about the LGBTQI [“I”? Not sure what that is. But wouldn’t such a limited acronym have left out some group or other?] members of his Diocese (and our beloved families) are nothing short of inhumane. His hatred and discrimination are undoubtedly a violation of Christ’s admonition to love thy neighbor. [I think she meant “our” neighbor.]
He supports guidelines instructing priests to consider whether or not[“or not”] to withhold last rights or include the life-parter [sic] of the deceased at any ecclesiastical funeral rite or service in order to minimize “the risk of scandal and confusion” when asked to conduct the funeral service of someone who is in a “notorious homosexual relationship”. [So, the writer is against “considerations”. Only absolute, unquestioning conformity to her will is acceptable. Typical.] He encourages priests to invasively inquire into the deceased’s “gay lifestyle” and whether or not the deceased repented prior to death. He seeks to obliterate evidence of any love created in the light of Christ that does not fit into his parochial, backward, hateful mold. He cannot be a shepherd to his flock if he does not love all his sheep equally the way Christ would have. […]
Finally, it is apparent that Bishop Morlino does not have the love in his heart nor the strength of character to stop his hate-filled fixation on the intimate lives of consensual and committed adults. He tries to disguise this obsession under a veil of discrimination[… ? What does that even mean?] and deploys it at a time when loss leaves loved ones most vulnerable and in need of support. This is nothing short of evil and we’ve had enough.
Bishop Morlino’s 14 year pattern and practice of abusing his power through hateful behavior has no place in Madison, WI let alone the Catholic church.

It is for this reason that we are asking his Holiness Pope Francis PP remove Robert C. Morlino from his role as Bishop of the Madison Diocese.

This petition will be delivered to:
Pope of the Catholic Church
His Holiness, Pope Francis PP (Pope of the Catholic Church)
Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Most Reverend Bernard A Hebda
Bishop of Portland ME
Most Reverend Robert P. Deeley

Honestly!

Look, friends, matters of death and loss of loved ones, of funerals and obsequies are serious business. So, too, is the salvation of souls, which is the daily absorbing care of the Catholic clergy.

All of these situations are difficult. One size does not fit all situations, which is was the substance of the original guidelines sent out which sparked the controversy. Bp. Morlino’s – and the Church’s – detractors do a grave disservice to the whole community they think they are defending when the reduce them all to a stereotype, as if they came from a mold.

Every situation deserves individual consideration rather than the thoughtless neglect which – ironically – the backers of that petition seem to advocate.

That petition…. You’ve gotta admit that, even with its ugly and vindictive intent, with its purple prose it rapidly devolves into self-parody.

That petition might have been more effective accompanied by a video of a dramatic reading of the text with simultaneous interpretive dance.

Meanwhile…

Hordes of protesters – supporters of the petition – descended on a downtown Madison church to files their grievances. They were, of course, covered by a full camera crew from a local TV station:

Yes, that’s all of them. But they are, to be fair, representative of the folks who are so lathered about Bp. Morlino right now. I am deeply grateful for the coverage by the TV station! Otherwise, we might have missed it!

What can you do?

There is an online petition in SUPPORT of B. Morlino… HERE
There is also a brand new petition at the same site as the anti-Morlino petition…. HERE I think The Remnant started it.
Also, let Bishop Morlino know of your support: officeofbishop@madisondiocese.org
Finally, let deeds speak louder than words. With your words of support, add a donation to the Diocese, especially for the support of priestly vocations. HERE – NB: Look for St. Joseph Fund